J* • '^ ' • * ■%* c ** " * ♦ o 4^ •••'•» %<> 6 " " " 'I 






iq 



"X» 












? ^^ 



To the Electors of Ward No. 1. 



oflfer for 



perusal, the 



Gentlemen, — 
nexed speech of Gen. WILLIAM HENRY HAR- 
RISON, the People's Candidate for the Presidency, 
(the second Washington,) requesting you to read it, 
and circulate it as much as possible, amongst the citi- 
zens of the Ward. 

N. B. The W'hig Head Quarters for this Ward, 
are at the Salem Street Academy, open every eve- 
ning, (Sundays excepted.) We call upon all, both 
old and young, to visit our Head Quarters, and 
render such assistance, as shall secure the Election 
of the People's Ticket. 

Per order of the Ward Committee. 



Cren. Harrison's Speech 

u 

AT THE 

DAYTON CONVENTION, 

SEFTEIMBER 10, 1840. 



Published by the Whig Repuhiican Association, Boston. 



I RISE, fellow citizens, (the muiiitude was here agitated as the sea, 
when the wild wind blows upon it, and it was full tive minutes before 
the tumult of joy, at seeing and hearing the next President of the 
United States, could be calmed) — I rise, fellow citizens, to express 
to you from the bottom of a grateful heart, my warmest thanks for the 
kind and flattering manner in which I have been received by the rep- 
resentatives of the valley of the Miami. I rise to say to you, that 
however magnificent my reception has been on this occasion, I am not 
so vain as to presume that it was intended for me; that this glorious 
triumphal entry was designed for one individual. No. I know too 
well that person's imperfections to believe that this vast assemblage 
has come up here to do him honor. It is the glorious cause of demo- 
cratic rights that brought them here. [Immense cheering] It is the 
proud anniversary of one of the brightest victories that glows on the 
pages of our country's history, which hath summoned this multitude 
together. [Tremendous cheering.] 

Fellow citizens, it was about this time of the day, twenty-seven years 
ago, this very hour, this very minute, that your speaker, as commander- 
in-chief of the North-Western army, was plunged into an agony of 
feeling when the cannonading from our fleet announced an action with 
the enemy. His hopes, his fears, were destined to be soon quieted, for 
the tidings of victory were brought to him on the wings of the wind. 
With the eagle of triumph perching upon our banners on the lake, I 
moved on to complete the overthrow of the foreign foe. The anni- 
versary of that day can never be forgotten, for every American has 
cause to rejoice at the triumph of our arms on that momentous occa- 
sion ; but the brave and gallant hero of that victory is gone, gone to 
that home whither we are all hurrying, and to his memory let us do 
that reverence due to the deeds of so illustrious a patriot. From 
Heaven does his soul look down upon us, and gladden at the virtues 
which still animate his generous countrymen in recurring to his noble 
and glorious career while on earth. [Great sensation for several 
seconds.] 



t 

w^ 



I am fully aware, my fellow citizens, that you expect from me some 
opinion upon the various questions which now agitate our country, from 
centre to circumference, with such fierce contention. Cahjumy, ever 
seeking to destroy all that is good in this world, hath proclaimed tiiat 
I am averse from declaring my opinions on matters so interesting to 
you ; but nothing can be nrore false [Cheers.] 

Have I not, time out of mind, proclaimed my opposition to a citizen's 
going forward among the people and soliciting votes for the Presidency? 
Have 1 not, many a time and often, said, that in my opinion, no man 
ought to aspire to the Presidency of these United States, unless he is 
designated as a candidate for that high ofiice by the unbought wishes 
of the people? [Cheering.] If the candidate for so high an office be 
designated by a portion or a majority of the people, they will have 
come to the determination of sustaining such a man from a review of 
his past actions and life, and they will not e.xact pledges from him of 
what he will do and what he will not do, for their selection of him is 
proof enough that he will carry out the doctrines of his party. This 
plan of choosing a candidate for the Presidency is a much surer bar 
against corruption than the system of requiring promises. If the 
pledging plan is pursued, the effect will be, to offer the Presidential 
chair to the man who will make the 7n()st promises. [Laughter.] He 
who would pledge most, he who would promise most, would be the man 
to be voted for, and I have no hesitation in declaring my belief, that 
he who would subject his course to be thus tied up by promises and 
pledges, would not stop to break them when once in office. [Cheering.] 
Are my views on this topic correct, or are they not? [With one voice 
the multitude indicated they were.] 

If, fellow citizens, we e.xamine the history of all Republics, we shall 
find as they receded from the purity of Representative Government, 
the condition of obtaining office was the making of promises. He 
who bid the highest in promises, was the favored candidate, and the 
higher the bids, the more marked and certain the corruption. Look 
at the progress of this thing in our own Republic. Were any pledges 
required of your Washington or your Adams? Adams was the can- 
didate of the federal party, and as a statesman was bound to carry out 
the principles of his party. Was his successor, Thomas Jefferson, the 
high priest of constitutional democracy, called on for pledges? No. 
His whole life was a pledge of what he would do. And if we go back 
to this old system of selecting men for the Presidency, whose past 
career shall be a guarantee of their conduct when elected to the Chief 
Magistracy of the Republic, the nation would advance safely, rapidly, 
and surely in the path of prosperity. But of late years the corrupting 
system of requiring pledges hath been adopted. 'I'he Presidency has 
been put up to the highest bidder in promises, and we see the result. 
It remains for you, my fellow citizens, to arrest this course of things. 

While then, fellow citizens, I have never hesitated to declare my 
opinions on proper occasions upon the great questions before the nation, 
I cannot consent to make mere promises the condition of obtaining 
the office which you kindly wish to bestow upon me. My opinions I 
am free to express, but you already have them, sustained and supported 
hy the acts of a long and arduous life. That life is a pledge of my 



3 

future course, if I am elevated by your suffrages to the highest office 
in yo ir gift. [Immense cheering for several seconds.] 

It has been charged against me, fellow citizens, that I am a Federalist. 
While I acknowledge that the original Federal party of this country 
was actuated in its course by no improper motives, / dtni/ that 1 ever 
belonged to that class of politicians. [Treniendous cheering.] How 
could I belong to that party? I was educated in the school of anti- 
federalism, and though too young to take an active part in the politics 
of the country, when at the erection of the Constitution, the nation 
was divided into two great parties, my honored father had inducted me 
into the principles of Constitutional Democracy, and my teachers were 
the Henrys and the Masons of that period. He who declared that the 
seeds of monarchy were sown in the soil of the Constitution, was a 
leader in my school of politics. He, who said that " if this govern- 
ment be not a monarchy, it has an awful squinting towards a monarchy," 
was my Mentor. [Immeiise applause. Some time elapsed before order 
could be restored, at hearing these emphatic declarations of the General.] 
If I know my own feelings, if I know my own judgment, I believe 
now, as I did then, with the patriarchs of the Jeffersonian school, that 
the seeds of monarchy were indeed sown in the fertile soil of our 
Federa:! Constitution; and that though for nearly fifty years they lay 
dormant, they at last sprouted and shot forth into strong and thriving 
plants, bearing blos.soms and producing ripe fruit. The Goi^ernment 
is now a, practical monarchy I [Loud and long cheering indicating 
that the people felt the full force of his declaration ] Power is power, 
it matters not by what name it is called. The head of the Government 
exercising tnonarchical power, may be natned King, Emperor, President, 
or Imaum, [great laughter] still he is a monarch. But this is not all. 
The President of these United States exercises a power superior to that 
vested in the hands of nearly all the Euro[)ean Kings. It is a power 
far greater than that ever dreamed of by the old Federal party. 

It is an ultra federal power, it is despotism! [Cheering.] And I 
may here advert to an objection that has been made against me. It 
has been said, that if 1 ever should arrive at the dignified station 
occupied by my opponent, I would be glad and eager to retain the 
power enjoyed by the President of the United States. Ntoer, never. 
[Tremendous cheering.] 'I'hough averse from pledges of every sort, 
I here openly and before the world declare that I will use all the power 
and influence vested in the office of President of the Union to abridpe 
the power and influence of tiie National E.xecutive 1 [It is impossibler 
to describe the sensation produced by this declaration] Is this , 
federalism? [Cries of no, no, for several seconds] In the Constitu- 
tion, that glorious charter of our liberties, there is a defect, and that 
defect is, the term of service of the President, — not limited. This 
omission is the source of all the evil under which the country is laboring. 
If the privilege of being President of the United States had been 
limited to one term, the incumbent would devote all his time to the 
pu!)lic interest, and there would be no cause to misrule the country. I 
shall not animadvert on the conduct of the present administration, lest 
you may in that case, conceive that I am aiming for the Presidency, to 
use it for selfish purposes. I should be an interested witness, if. I 



4 

entered into the subject. But I pledge myself hffnre Heaven and 
earth, if elected President of these United Slates, to lay down at the 
end of the term faith' ulh/ that high trust at the feet of the people ! 
[Here the multitude was so excited as to defy description.] 

I go farther. I here declare before this vast assembly of the Miami 
Tribe (great laughter) that if I am elected, no human being shall ever 
know upon whom I would prefer to see the people's mantle fall ; but I 
shall surrender this glorious badge of their authority into their own 
hands to bestow it as they please! — (nine cheers.) Is this federalism? 
(no, no, no.) Again in relatiorfv.to the charge of being a federalist, I 
can refer to the doings previous, to, and during, the late war. The 
federal party took ground again^ that war, and as a party, there never 
existed a purer band of patriots, for when the note of strife was 
sounded, they rallied under the banner of their country. But patriotic 
as they were, I do know that I wfs not one of them! [cheering.] I 
was denounced in unmeasured terms as one of the authors of that war, 
and was held up by the federal papers of the day as the marked object 
of the party. 1 could here name the man who came to me, and a more 
worthy man never lived, to say that he was mistaken in his views of 
my policy, as Governor of Indiana, when I was charged by the feder- 
alists as uselessly involving the country in an Indian war. He told me 
that I acted rightly in that matter, and that the war was brought on by 
me as a matter of necessity. [Cries of name him, name him. J It was 
Mr. Gaston of North Carolina. — [Three cheers.] Is this a proof that 
■'I was a federalist? — [No, no, no.] 

I have now got rid, my fellow citizens, of this baseless charge — no, 
I have not. There are a few more allegations to notice. I am not a 
professional speaker, nor a studied orator, but I am an old soldier and 
a farmer, and as my sole object is to speak what I thitik, you will 
excuse me if I do it in my own way. [Shouts of applause, and cries 
of — the old soldier and farmer for us.] 

I have said that there were other allegations to notice. — To prove 
that I was a federalist, they assert that I supported the alien and 
sedition laws, and in doing so, violated the principles and express 
words of the Constitution. I did not, fellow citizens, ever participate 
in this measure — When these laws passed I was a soldier in the army 
of the United States ! [Applause.] 

Again, they censure me for iny course in Congress, when I served 
you in that body as a representative of the North West Territory. 
And here I will advert to the fact that I represented, at the time, a 
territory comprising now the Slates of Indiana, lUmois and Michigan. 
I was the sole representative of that immen.se extent of country. [A 
voice here cried— " And you are going to be again!" Tremendous 
cheering.] As I understood federalism to be in its origin, so I under- 
stand it to be now. It was and is the accumulation of power in the 
E.\ecutive to be used and exercised for its own benefit. Was my 
conduct in Congress then such as to entitle tne to the appellation of 
federalist? — [Cries of no, no, and cheering.] 

I had the honor, as Chairman of a Committee in the year 18^0, to 
devise a bill which had for its object to snatch from the grasp of spec- 
ulators all this glorious country which now teems with rich harvests 



under the hands of the honest, industrious and virtuous husbandman. 
[Immense cheering.] Was I a federalist then ? [Cries of no, no. no.] 
When 1 was Governor of Indiana, ask how unlimited power bestowed 
upon me was exercised — a power as high as that exercised by the pres- 
ent President of the United States! 1 was then sole monarch of the 
North West Territory ! [Laughter.] Did I discharge my duties as 
Governor of that vast Territory in such a way as to show that I was in 
love with the tremendous powers inve.sted in me? [Here some 4000 
persons in one quarter of the crowd raised tlieir hats in the air and rent 
it with shouts of — no, no, no. They were the delegation fron) Indiana. 
This prompt response from so many persons produced great sensation.] 
There is an essential difference between the President of the United 
States and me. When he was in the Convention which remodelled 
the Constitution of New York, he was for investing the Governor with 
the appointment of the Sheriffs. — When I was Governor of Indiana, 
and possessed the power of appointing all officers, 1 gave it up to the 
people ! [Intense excitement and great cheering.] I never appointed 
any. officer whatever, while Governor of Indiana, whether sheriff", coro- 
ner, judge, justice of the peace or aught else, without first consultincr 
and obtaining the wishes of the people. [Shouts of applause.] Was 
this an evidence that I was a federalist? [No, no, no.] 

I think I have now shown you, fellow citizens, conclusively, that my 
actions do not constitute me a federalist, and it is to them I proudly 
point as the shield against which the arrows of my calumniators will 
fall jn vain. [Immense cheering.] 

Methinks I hear a soft voice asking : Are you in favor of paper mon- 
ey ? I AM. [Shouts of applause.] If you would know why I am in 
favor of the credit system, I can only say it is because I am a demo- 
crat. [Immense cheering.] The two systems are the only means, 
under Heaven, by which a poor industrious man may become a rich 
man without bowing to colossal wealth. [Cheers.] But with all this 
I am not a Bank man. Once in my life I was, and then they cheated 
me out of every dollar I placed in their hands. [Shouts of laughter.] 
And I shall never indulge in this way again ; for it is more than proba- 
ble that I shall never again have-money beyond the day's wants. But 
I am in favor of a correct banking system, for the simple reason, that 
the share of the precious metals, which, in the course of trade, falls to 
our lot, is much less than the circulating medium which our internal 
and external commerce demands, to raise our prices to a level with the 
prices of Europe, where the credit system does prevail. There must 
be some plan to multiply the gold and silver which our industry com- 
mands ; and there is no other way to do this but by a safe banking sys- 
tem. [Great a[)plause.] I do not pretend to say that a perfect system 
of banking can be devised. There is nothing in the offspring of the 
human mind that does not savor of imperfection. No plan of govern- 
ment or finance can be devised free from defect. After long delibera- 
tion, I have no hopes that this country can ever go on to prosper under 
a pure specie currency. Such a currency but makes the poor poorer, 
and the rich richer. A properly devised banking system alone, posses- 
ses the capability of bringing the poor to a level with the rich. — 
[Tremendous cheering.] 



I have peculiar notions of government. Perhaps T may err. I am 
no statesman by profession, but as 1 have already said, I am a half sol- 
dier and a half farmer, and it may be, that, if I am elected to the first 
office in your gift, my fellow citizens will be deceived in me, but I can 
assure them, that if, in carrying out their wishes, the head shall err, 
the heart is true. [Great huzzaing.] 

My opinion of the power of Congress to charter a national bank re- 
mains unchanged. There is not in the Constitution any express grant 
of power for such purpose, and it could never be constitutional to exer- 
cise, save in the event, the povvers granted to congress could not be 
carried into effect, without resorting to such an institution. [Applause ] 
Mr. Madison signed the law creating a national bank, because he 
thought that the revenue of the country could not be collected or dis- 
bursed to the best advantage without the interposition of such an estab- 
lishment. I said in my letter to Sherrod Williams, that, if it was plain 
that the revenues of the Union could only be collected and disbursed 
in the most effectual way by means of a bank, and if I was clearly of 
opinion that the majority of the people of the United States desired 
such an institution, then, and then only would 1 sign a bill going to 
charter a bank. [Shouts of applause.] 1 have never regarded the 
office of Chief Magistrate as conferring upon tlie incumbent the power 
of mastery over the popular will, but as granting him the power to exe- 
cute the properly expressed will of the people and not to resist it. 
With my mother's milk did I suck in the principles on which the Dec- 
laration of Independence was founded. [Cheering.] That declaration 
complained, that the King would not let the people make such laws as 
they wished. Shall a President or an executive officer undertake, at 
this late time of day, to control the people in the exercise of their su- 
preme will ? No. The people are the best guardians of their own 
rights, [applause,] and it is the duty of their Executive to abstain from 
interfering in or thwarting the sacred exercise of the law-making func- 
tions of their government. 

In this view of the matter, I defend my having signed a well known 
bill which passed the legislature while 1 was Governor of Indiana. It 
is true, my opponents have attempted to cast odium upon me for having 
done so, but while they are engaged in such an effort, they impugn the 
honor and honesty of the inmates of the log cabins, who demanded the 
passage and signature of that bill. The men who now dare to arraign 
the people of Indiana for having exercised their rights as they pleased, 
were in their nurse's arms when that bill passed the legislature. What 
do they know of the pioneers of that vast wilderness? I tell them, 
that in the legislature which passed the bill exciting so much their hor- 
ror, there were men as pure in heart, and as distinguished for their 
common sense and high integrity, as any who set themselves np for 
models in these days. [Immense cheering.] I glory in carrying out 
their views, for in doing so 1 submitted to the law-making power, in 
accordance with the declaration of independence, I did not prevent the 
people from making what laws they pleased. [Cheering.] 

If the Augean stable is to be cleansed, it will be necessary to go 
back to the principles of Jefferson. [Cheers.] It has been said by 
the Henrys, the Madisous, the Graysoas and others, that one of the 



great dangers in our government is, the powers vested in the general 
government would overshadow the governtiient of the Slates. There 
is truth in this, and long since and often have I expressed the opinion 
that the interference of the general government with the elective fran- 
chise in the States would be the signal for the downfall of liberty. 
That interference has taken place, and while the mouths of professed 
democrats appeal to Jefferson, and declare they are governed by his 
principles, they are urging at the same time 1(10,000 office holders to 
meddle in the State elections ! And if the rude hand of power be not 
removed from the elective franchise, there will soon be an end to the 
government of the Union. [Cries of assent.] It is a truth in govern- 
ment ethics, that when a larger power comes in contact with a smaller 
power, the latter is speedily destroyed or swallowed up by the former. 
So in regard to the general government and the Slate governments. 
Should 1 ever be placed in the Chief Magistrate's seat, I will carry 
out the principles of Jackson, and never permit the interference of 
office-holders in the elections. [Immense applause.] I will do more. 
While 1 will forbid their interference in elections, I will never do 
aught to prevent their going quietly to the polls and voting, even 
against me or my measures. No American citizen should be deprived 
of his power of voting as he pleases. 

I have detained you, fellow-citizens, longer than I intended, but you 
now see that 1 am not the old man on crutches nor the imbecile they 
say I am— [cheering] — not the prey to disease— a voice cried here; 
nor the bear in a cage, nor the caged animal they wittily described me 
to be, [great laughter and cheering.] 

But before 1 conclude, there are two or three other topics I must 
touch upon. 

The violence of party spirit, as of late exhibited, is a serious mis- 
chief to the political welfare of the country. Party feeling is necessary 
in a certain degree to the health and stability of a Republic, but when 
pushed to too great an extent, it is detrimental to the body politic, it is 
the rock upon which many a Republic has been dashed to pieces. An 
old farmer told me the other day that he did not believe one of the 
stories circulated against me, and he would support me if I were only 
a Democrat. [Laughter.] But if I support and sustain democratic 
principles, what matters it how I am called? It matters a good deal, 
said he; you don't belong to the Democratic party! [Laughter] 
Can any thing be more ruinous in its tendency to our institutions, than 
this high party spirit, which looks to the shadow, and not to the sub- 
stance of things? Nothing, nothing. This running after names, 
after imaginings, is ominous of dangerous results. In the blessed 
Book we are told that the pretensions of false Christs shall be in future 
times so specious that even the elect will be deceived. And is it not 
so now with Democracy ? The name does not constitute the Demo- 
crat. — It is the vilest imposture ever attempted upon the credulity of 
the public mind to array the poor of the country under the name of 
Democrats against the rich, and style them aristocrats. This is deal- 
ing irj fables. The natural antagonist of Democracy is not aristocracy. 
It is monarchy. — There is no instance on record of a Republic like 
ours running into an aristocracy. It can hurry into a pure Democracy, 



8 

and the confidence of that Democracy being once obtained by a Ma- 
rius or Csesar, by a Bolivar or a Bonaparte, he strides rapidly from pro- 
fessions of love for the people to usurpation of their rights, and steps 
from that high eminence to a throne ! [Cheering.] And thus, in the 
name of Democracy, the boldest crimes are committed. Who forgets 
the square in Paris, where ran rivers of the people's blood, shed in the 
name of Democracy at the foot of the statue of liberty ! Cherish not 
the man, then, who, under the guise and name of Democracy, tries to~ 
overthrow tlie principles of Republicanism, as professed and acted upon 
by Jederson and Madison. [Immense cheering.] 

Gen. Harrison here adverted to the calumnies put forth against his 
military fame by that noble pair of brothers, Allen and Duncan, and 
in severe but just terms exposed the falsehoods of these vilifiers. He 
proved that they were guilty of falsifying the records of the country, 
and in a brief and lucid manner vindicated himself and the honor of 
the nation from the aspersions of these and other reckless politicians. 
He showed that the received history of his brilliant career in the North 
West had been stamped by the impress of truth, and he will soon find 
that a generous and grateful people will testify their admiration of his 
glorious services in tlieir cause by raising the brave old soldier to the 
highest office in their gift. 

A precious inheritance, continued the General, has been handed 
down to you by your forefathers. In Rome, the sacred fire of fabled 
gods was kept alive by vestal virgins, and they watched over the gift 
with eager eyes. In America, a glorious fire has been lighted upon 
the altar of liberty, and to you, my fellow citizens, has been entrusted 
its safe-keepincr, to be nourished with care and fostered forever. Keep 
it burning, and let the sparks that continually go up from it fall on 
other altars, and light up in distant lands the fire of freedom. The 
Turk. busies himself no longer with his harem or his bow string. To 
licentiousness have succeeded the rights of mar), and constitutions are 
giviMi to the people by once despotic rulers. Whence came the light 
that now shines in the land of darkness ? It was a brand snatched 
from your own proud altar, and thrust into the pyre of Turkish op- 
pression. 

Shall then the far seen light upon the shrine of American liberty 
ever be extinguished ? [No, no, no.] It would not be your loss only — 
it would be the loss of the whole world. The enemies of freedom in 
Europe are watching you with intense anxiety, and your friends, like 
a few planets of heaven, are praying for your success. Deceive them 
not, but kee[) the sacred fire burning steadily upon your altars, and the 
Ohio farmer whom you design to make your Cliief Magistrate will, at 
the end of four years, cheerfully lay down the authority which you may 
entrust him with, free from all ambition. It will have been glorious 
enough for me to be honored as those pure and honest republicans, 
Washington, Jefferson and Madison were honored — with the high con- 
fidence of a great, noble, just and generous people I [The excitement 
and cheering continued for several miniites, and the multitude were 
swayed to and fro, as the leaves of the forest in a storm of wind.] 



«4® 











^ V 



800KB1MDIf>JC n . A^ . ^ ^ 

rr>r,n,lte Pa B '_^ .CV" t " " • • O 



>..ant\.lte. Pa 
.an Fet 19S9 









